Anishinaabe, meaning the Original Peoples Ojibwa, Odawa, Potawatami, Chippewa, Mississauga, Algonquin, and Delaware These are the Nations of the Anishinaabeg. The Anishinaabeg share a common language that historians and anthropologists called the Algonquian language. The Anishinaabeg, though, call their language Anishinaabemowin. Oftentimes, people do not understand that the Algonquin are only one Nation within the larger Algonquian/Anishinaabemowin linguistic group. The Anishinaabe reside in what is now called Canada and the United States. In Canada we live in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba. In the United States we live in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The Algonquin, also spelled Algonkin, although not our original name, live in the Ottawa River Valley of Quebec and Ontario. For the most part historically the Anishinaabeg lived in wigwams, had/have a clan system of governance, were/are hunters, fishers, gathers, and rudimentary farmers who traveled their homeland within the cycle of natural law. They were/are patrilineal, as clans and land stewardship was/is passed through the father line. This, though, does not mean that they were/are patriarchal. Be careful not to define allied Nations only through a linguistic framework. For example, the Algonquin and the Huron, who belong to different linguistic groups, were allies, friends, and shared culture. Haudenosaunee, meaning the People of the Longhouse

Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora These Nations make up the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Historians and anthropologists called them Iroquois. Although historically from the Finger Lakes area in the United States, the Haudenosaunee were granted land in what is now Brantford, Ontario. They also have land holdings in Quebec on the island of Montreal and on the northern shores of Lake Ontario. For the most part historically the Haudenosaunee lived in longhouses, have/had a clan system of governance, and although they did/do fish and hunt they were/are more gifted and organized around the practices of agriculture. They were/are also matrilineal and matriarchal as clans and land stewardship was/is passed through the mother line.